Yes, the gender pay gap exists in elite sports. The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 prize money amounted to a whopping $440 million: all qualifying teams received $1.5 million ahead of competition, the champions (Argentina) won $42 million, runners-up (France) won $30 million, and all contenders who placed in the top 32 went home with at least $9 million per team. (You can find the full breakdown for the men's World Cup prizes on FIFA's site.)
The women's teams, like in most professional sports, earn only a fraction of their men counterparts. In 2022, the US Women's National Football team settled a lengthy gender-discrimination lawsuit filed by star players Carli Lloyd, Hope Solo, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, and Becky Sauerbrunn, alleging they were paid thousands of dollars less than their men counterparts, despite better playing performance. As a result, the US Football Federation reached a historic equal-pay agreement: not only will the men's and women's teams be paid equally until at least 2028, but the women's team will be paid $22 million in back pay (i.e. lost wages).
But the FIFA Women's World Cup prizes certainly fall short of equal pay — even with the 2023 prize pool reaching a historic high. In March, FIFA announced that a total of $152 million will be awarded in prize money at the tournament, which is a shocking five times the amount that was given out at the last women's World Cup in 2019 ($30 million). The winners of the 2023 trophy will go home with $4.29 million and the runners-up with $3 million. Though still a shadow of what the men's World Cup players earn, it's at the very least a step in the right direction.